BLM invites public to meet new Front Range District Manager
(12-06-12)

CAÑON CITY, Colo. – The Bureau of Land Management invites the public to meet Tom Heinlein, the new Front Range District Manager, on Thursday, Dec. 13 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. during a swearing-in ceremony. The festivities will be held at the BLM Royal Gorge Field Office, 3028 East Main Street, Cañon City.

As District Manager, Heinlein is responsible for overseeing BLM’s management of public lands and natural resources from the continental divide east to the Kansas border, and from the Wyoming border south to the New Mexico and Oklahoma borders.

The public is welcome to visit with Heinlein at 10 a.m. The swearing-in ceremony will begin promptly at 11 a.m. with the BLM Colorado State Director, Helen Hankins, presiding over the event.

“Heinlein brings with him extensive leadership experience and natural resource knowledge that will greatly benefit the BLM,” said Hankins.

Heinlein came to Colorado from Monticello, Utah, where he was a BLM Field Manager since 2008. In 1996, Heinlein received a Master of Science in forest ecology from Northern Arizona University. Heinlein has worked as a research fire ecologist with the Northern Arizona University Ecological Restoration Institute, a biologist with the National Park Service Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network, the Chief of Natural and Cultural Resources and Assistant Park Supervisor for Western Arctic National Parklands, and as the Superintendent of the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve.

“My family and I are extremely happy to be settling in Colorado,” said Heinlein. “I look forward to meeting and working with the people who enjoy this area’s beautiful public lands.”

The BLM’s Front Range District manages nearly 1.3 million surface acres and 9.5 million subsurface acres of federal mineral estate. The District is comprised of the Royal Gorge Field Office in Cañon City, the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area in Salida, and the San Luis Valley Field Office in Saguache.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In Fiscal Year 2013, the BLM generated $4.7 billion in receipts from public lands.